QUOTA of QUOTES

“Wearing a sari is like driving. You
only get better by doing it, but you’re
terrified the first few times you try.”

– Dr.
Mukulika Banerjee, professor of anthropology
at the London School
of Economics and Political Science
and co-author of The Sari. (The New
York Times)

“To be able to reach students all over
the world is heartening; to be able to clarify
a concept that a student did not get
in the confines of a large classroom is encouraging;
and to learn that it prevented
a student from dropping the class is satisfying.”

–Dr. Autar
Kaw, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University
of South Florida, in his acceptance speech after being
named the 2012 Outstanding Doctoral and Research
Universities Professor of the Year by the Council for
Advancement and Support of Education. Kaw was an
early advocate for putting engineering courseware online,
making it available to students worldwide.

“If people do read this, if it does well, that
allows publishers to be more receptive to the
next three writers who are trying to write
about unsexy topics, difficult topics. It’s just so
hard now to get people to pay attention.”

– Katherine Boo, on
the benefits of winning the National Book Award for her
debut book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and
Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, which captures the life of a
family in the Annawadi slum. (Entertainment Weekly)

“I am not hung up on specific materials.
What’s much more interesting is, who can
access the work? Who can come see it? Contemporary
Indian art is so disjointed from
the public. It’s elitist. I want to connect with
the average person in India.”

–Architect-turned-artist Asim Waqif, whose debut
European solo show at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris features
his elaborate sculpture “Bordel Monstre” (Monstrous
Mess), made of discarded wood panels, plastic
waste, wiring, and other material. (The New York Times)

“He said, ‘Come with me because I
don’t want to go alone.’ I said, ‘Fine, as long
as you buy me a sandwich afterwards.’ That
sandwich got me ‘Pi.’”

– Delhi University
student Suraj Sharma, 18, recounting
how he accompanied his brother to
auditions for the movie Life of Pi and
unexpectedly won the lead role. (Associated Press)

“I was bummed when we actually broke up, when it was
done, mostly because it was a way to make money really easily.
Now, I probably won’t be able to make money that easily
ever again.”

–Ashok Kondabolu, (aka Dapwell) on the
breakup of Das Racist, the alternative hip-hop group
that brought acclaim to him and MCs Himanshu Suri
(aka Heems) and Victor Vazquez (aka Kool A.D.) from
2008 to 2012. (Spin)

Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge. [Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]

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